CryptoCompare API

Beginner's Pick Cryptocurrency / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS
Free to Use Varies (check documentation)

Overview

CryptoCompare (now served via the CoinDesk Data API) provides one of the most comprehensive free cryptocurrency datasets, including multi-exchange price aggregates, OHLCV historical candles, orderbook depth, and social sentiment signals. A no-key public tier lets you fetch current prices for any coin-to-currency pair instantly, while a free registered key unlocks higher rate limits and historical data. It is widely used in trading bots, research tools, and price comparison widgets.

Beginner Tip

The simplest call requires no key at all — fsyms (from-symbols) and tsyms (to-symbols) are the only required parameters. Register for a free API key at min-api.cryptocompare.com to remove the anonymous rate limit before you outgrow the public tier.

Available Data

coin price in USD/EUR
market capitalization
24h price change
trading volume
circulating supply
Use case: Integrate cryptocurrencies comparison data into web and mobile applications

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "id": "bitcoin",
  "symbol": "btc",
  "current_price": 65432.1,
  "market_cap": 1280000000000,
  "price_change_24h": 1250.5,
  "price_change_percentage_24h": 1.95,
  "total_volume": 28500000000
}

Field Reference

USD Current price of the queried coin in US Dollars at the time of the request.
EUR Current price of the queried coin in Euros; only present when EUR is included in the tsyms parameter.
GBP Current price in British Pounds; the response dynamically includes a key for each currency symbol you request.

Implementation Example

Request
// ⚠️ Note: This URL may be a documentation page. Check official docs for actual API endpoint.
const url = "https://www.cryptocompare.com/api";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Response contains Response: Error Passing an unrecognised coin symbol or misspelling the query parameter name
Symbol names are case-sensitive uppercase strings (e.g. BTC not btc); check the Message field in the error body for details.
403 Forbidden on historical endpoints Attempting to access endpoints that require an API key without providing one
Add ?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY to the URL or pass it as the authorization header; free keys are available without credit card.
Rate limit exceeded Too many requests per second on the anonymous tier
Register for a free API key, which raises limits significantly; also cache responses for at least 60 seconds to reduce call frequency.

Metadata Score Breakdown

Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested

This score is estimated from observable metadata — HTTPS support, authentication model, declared CORS, and documentation reachability — because the API requires authentication or exposes no publicly testable endpoint. The five-signal breakdown is only shown for live-tested APIs.

Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Cryptocurrency
Difficulty Beginner
Verified: 2026-04-07

Alternatives to CryptoCompare

Technical alternatives for different use cases.

Larger free tier with DeFi and NFT data coverage

Better For

Free comprehensive crypto data including DeFi

Trade-off

Granular historical OHLCV data

Deeper historical data and social metrics

Better For

Simple price lookups for a few coins

Trade-off

Crypto analytics and historical analysis

Industry-standard rankings and market metrics

Better For

Market cap data and global crypto statistics

Trade-off

Social media sentiment and mining data

Recipes Using CryptoCompare

Build something with this API. Each recipe includes step-by-step instructions and code outlines.

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